Riverside County’s congressional delegation Saturday was weighing in on the Trump administration’s overnight attack on Iran.
“President Trump’s decision to launch Operation Epic Fury will protect America and our allies by eliminating the Iranian regime’s ability to wage terror and threaten its enemies. It will also provide the Iranian people with a historic opportunity to shape their own future free from oppression,” Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Palm Desert, said in a statement Saturday.
However, Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, joined other Democrats in complaining that President Donald Trump took military action without obtaining authorization from Congress.
“President Trump has launched a major military operation in the Middle East without a clear objective and without making the case to Congress or the American people,” Takano said. “This reckless action puts American troops at risk and edges us toward a wider regional war. Congress must immediately reconvene and pass an Iran War Powers Resolution to stop this before it spirals further.”
Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Indio, also took to X on Saturday opposing the attack.
“Once again, Donald Trump has lied to the American people, broken the law, and risked American lives for a personal vendetta. He repeatedly promised no new wars and criticized past presidents for starting wars without Congressional approval, but here he is, doing exactly that. We had an international agreement that prevented Iran from having nuclear weapons, but Trump tore it up. He’s the only reason Iran is able to pursue nuclear weapons. Congress must act immediately to stop Trump from risking American lives,” Ruiz said.
Darrell Issa, R-Fallbrook, who also represents part of the Coachella Valley, expressed his support on X, stating: “May God bless and protect our brave service members as they carry out their duties and their mission.”
Issa followed up by reposting an X post originally by Calvert that stated, “The Iranian regime was responsible for: 241 U.S. service member deaths in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. At least 603 U.S. service member deaths in Iraq. They have been a threat to our national security interests for decades.”
The U.S. military, with support from Israel, carried out large-scale strikes on targets within Iran early Saturday, hitting the capital city of Tehran the hardest but also striking several other cities and reportedly killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. Khamenei death was reported by Israel and multiple U.S. and international news outlets. He had been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, making him the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East. He was previously president of Iran from 1981-89.
Iranian officials said one strike killed dozens of people at a girls school.
Iran launched a counteroffensive, attacking Israel and U.S. military bases located in allied Arab nations across the region, including in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan.
Many of the missiles launched at Israel were intercepted by that country’s air defense system.
“The United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests,” President Donald Trump said in a message to the nation on Saturday. “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground.”
The president accused Iran of attempting to rebuild its nuclear program after the U.S. carried out a massive attack on it last summer that Trump said at the time had left the program “completely and totally obliterated.”
“The Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission,” Trump said Saturday.
In his speech, Trump recited several episodes from decades ago, including the 1979 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in which 52 U.S. hostages were held for more than a year, the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. troops, which Trump blamed on Iran’s “proxies,” the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors, which Trump said Iran “knew (about) and were probably involved with,” and the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which Trump also characterized as a proxy attack directed by Iran.
“For 47 years the Iranian regime has chanted `Death to America’ and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and murder, targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries,” he said.
“It’s been mass terror, and we’re not going to put up with it anymore.”
Trump also called on the Iranian people to rise up and confront their government after the bombing stopped. Thousands of Iranians were killed in protests against the government that began on Dec. 28, 2025.
The United Nations Security Council called a meeting for Saturday to address the situation.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said House Democrats plan to force a vote soon on limiting Trump’s war powers in Iran.
The Constitution grants Congress the sole power to formally declare war. In 1973, an attempt to further codify its control of military excursions amid the Vietnam War, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution. That act says the president must notify Congress within 48 hours of introducing armed forces into hostilities, and troops must be removed within 60-90 days if Congress doesn’t authorize the action.
Since then, presidents have occasionally skirted the act, citing various exigencies, and its effectiveness continues to be debated.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said state officials were monitoring the situation.
“California is closely monitoring the evolving situation in Iran and the surrounding region. Our homeland security and emergency management teams are working with federal partners to prepare for any impacts here at home,” the governor’s office said. “The State Threat Assessment Center is actively coordinating with local law enforcement partners. There is no specific or credible threat to California at this time, and we remain fully prepared and vigilant.”